Cryptocurrency exchange OKX has secured a strategic investment from Circle, Ripple, QRT and SC Ventures — four major financial and digital asset firms — at a pre-money valuation of $25 billion, in a transaction the company said fortifies its stablecoin, liquidity and custody capabilities.

Announced on October 6, the investment builds on OKX existing commercial partnerships and supports the company's plans to expand beyond cryptocurrency trading into tokenized assets and broader financial services. It also continues a previous investment in the company made in March 2026 by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. With the new round, OKX's backers now span traditional market infrastructure, through ICE, and two of the industry's key stablecoin issuers.

OKX did not disclose the individual amounts invested or the ownership stakes awarded to each participant. Notably, all four firms already maintain commercial relationships with the exchange — a feature that distinguishes the round from a traditional investment deal in which parties with no prior connection simply open an investment avenue. That structure gives the investment an operational dimension beyond capital: each backer supplies a service — stablecoin issuance, payments, custody or liquidity — already embedded in the exchange's operations.

The company detailed the round in an official announcement.

Four Backers With Existing Commercial Ties

Each investor brings a capability that maps directly onto OKX's institutional ambitions. Circle provides the infrastructure behind the USDC stablecoin, Ripple contributes stablecoin and payment capabilities, Standard Chartered participates through SC Ventures, its venture arm, with custody services, and QRT serves as a provider of institutional liquidity.

According to OKX founder and CEO Star Xu, the firm will create a comprehensive financial platform that integrates digital assets with services typical of traditional financial institutions — a step the exchange framed as central to its expansion beyond trading.

Ripple's RLUSD Strengthens OKX Stablecoin Infrastructure

Ripple's inclusion reinforces an existing financial partnership between the two companies. Ripple has already launched its dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, on OKX's centralized order book, making the platform capable of supporting trading in the token.

Ripple executives said the transaction may lead to further collaboration in areas including payments, stablecoins and financial services for institutions.

Circle's involvement comes on the back of the integration of USDC into the networks of OKX's trading infrastructure. Taken together, the partnerships significantly deepen the exchange's relationship with two of the industry's key stablecoin issuers.

Standard Chartered Supports Tokenized Treasury Collateral

Standard Chartered joins the investment with its institutional custody capabilities. The bank has already served as custodian for BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized Treasury fund under a collateral framework created by OKX.

Under that framework, eligible institutional clients can post tokenized Treasury assets as collateral for trading without the underlying assets themselves ever moving onto the exchange. The architecture is intended to bring tokenized assets into crypto trading while reconciling the security and custody of real-world assets with the demands of active trading.

OKX Targets Institutional Trading and Real-World Assets

QRT's participation equips the firm with liquidity and risk capacity within OKX's markets, while the exchange gains the support of a large institutional trading counterparty. The investment also marks another step in OKX's progression away from its initial cryptocurrency trading business.

According to Xu, the new capital will fuel the growth and tokenization of real-world assets, potentially linking traditional investment vehicles with blockchain-based trading platforms.

OKX did not provide specific investment amounts, tokenized volumes or a timeframe for the launch of any additional products. The concrete markers of how the strategy takes shape will therefore be disclosure of the individual stakes, the arrival of tokenized-asset products on the platform, and any deepening of the Ripple partnership into the payments and institutional services its executives flagged.

For now, the agreement consolidates stablecoin issuers, institutional trading expertise and bank-grade custody on OKX's expanding digital asset platform.